My Little Sister Can't Be Such a Strong Esper
by NerdAlert1997
Summary: In the world of Academy City, where supernatural powers are scientifically possible, Scientific research is not restricted in any way, shape or form, and people constantly seek to find the best among the best of the hordes of students in the city. My little sister, one of the best, is a target, and it is imperative that I protect her.
1. Chapter 1 - Make Love With Little Sister

**Author's Note : Hello there! As you may already know, this is a crossover of Ore no Imouto ga konna ni Kawaii wake ga nai (Oreimo) and the To Aru Majutsu no Index series. As much as the first chapter might seem like it, it's not just going to be the Oreimo plot with an Academy City spin on it. There's going to be OCs, cameos by well-known characters from both series, and also a balance between a slice-of-life story and an action-based story. There's also going to be a lot of science involved, because it is in Academy City. I recommend that you both read up on the lore of the Majutsu series and also try and learn new things about science if you don't know it. If you'd like to know something more about a scientific theory or its application that I use here, you are free to PM me and I will send a link to an article whilst explaining the basics behind that particular theory. This is a pilot chapter, so I hope you enjoy it! Lastly, I would like to make the obligatory declaration that I own neither Oreimo or the Majutsu series. **

"Onii-chan, hurry up and get out of bed already..."

I awoke to my sister, dressed in the standard uniform for my school, scurrying around my dorm room and cleaning up the surrounding area. She drew the curtains, drawing light painfully into my eyes.

She reached out towards me.

"Onii-chan, hurry -"

I grabbed her wrist. There was so much wrong with this situation. For starters...

"You're not my sister."

"Huehh? Onii-chan, how could you -"

"To begin with, she doesn't even go to the same school as me. We're not even in the same year. Secondly, she's not in the same dormitory block as me. And finally, there's no way my sister would ever do this for me. Because..."

I kept silent for a while, then mustered all my strength to roar.

"There's no way my little sister can be thi -"

* * *

I opened my eyes again to the sounds of the squeaky door of my room opening. I was sprawled out on all fours on the cold, hard floorboard, with my blanket draped over a small portion of my body. It had all been a dream.

I got up and tried to go about my daily routine.

* * *

"Kyousuke, you look tired..."

My roommate, Kouhei Akagi, looked over the table at me with a frown. That's what happens when you leap through the door onto my torso, you bumbling idiot.

There was a light rap on the door, and a familiar voice was heard.

"Kyou-chan, Kyou-chan, let me in!"

"Okaaay," I went over to open the door to my smiling classmate, Tamura Manami. She always did this every morning, coming over to have a quick breakfast and then walking to school together. There was no other word to describe it other than "ordinary".

Just the way I like it.

Akagi eyed me and Manami with a suspicious eye.

"Kousaka, come here for a moment."

I complied quickly, wondering what exactly it was he wanted.

"Kousaka, you sure you're not dating Tamura?"

I sighed; he asked this practically every morning, while Manami stood off in the corner staring at us blankly as usual. I looked at him straight in the eye, like every other morning. Then I opened my mouth while rolling my eyes, like every other morning.

"No. How many times have I told you that already?"

Stop looking at me with those suspicious eyes! I'm not dating anyone! You yourself should know that I usually come straight home after school is over! I swallow it all down; he's definitely heard it before and it wouldn't do to get Manami into an awkward spot. I force down the thoughts that are about to rise out of my mouth. Except one...

"... Obaa-san[1]."

"What did you say, Kousaka? I could've sworn you just said 'Obaa-san', but that can't be right. We're talking about Manami, right? What did you say?"

"I said, she's like an Obaa-san to me."

This was the first time I said this to him. He narrowed his eyes in confusion and suspicion.

"... Kousaka. Explain."

I spent the rest of the way to school explaining to him exactly what I meant, while Manami followed behind awkwardly. There were times when she wasn't noticeable even though I was constantly looking back at her, meaning she was using her esper ability, Dummy Check.

Ah, I'd forgotten for a moment. We lived in Academy City, where science ruled and people having scientifically proven and developed supernatural powers was something normal. If she hadn't used Dummy Check, I may have completely forgotten because of the normality in my life right now.

I'm not lamenting that normality, I'd actually wanted a normal school life which didn't involve scientists injecting me with drugs and putting me through their weird curriculum. The only Personal Reality I'd ever wanted was a world of normality, where everything was normal and nothing really special happened to me. I never wanted to come here, to stay here and be put through that Power Curriculum Program like the other esper hopefuls here; I was forced to come here by my parents, to test the curriculum before sending my little sister in, and later to keep watch on my little sister.

As if I were a telepath and she had received my signals, there she appeared in front of me.

I could see her at the junction ahead, wearing her well-known uniform. She was a high-flier in this city, a Level 4 esper who went to one of the top 5 schools here, known as Tokiwadai Middle School. Her grades were excellent, she was an athlete, and she was moderately popular in her school. Her life was a smashing success, and every time I went home with her my parents would never stop gushing about her achievements and abilities. Me? I was a normal high school student, enrolled at Sakugawa High School which I enrolled into after graduating from Sakugawa Middle School. I am nothing more than a Level 2 esper, just beginning to bridge the gap between Level 2 and Level 3. I would never have a chance in catching up with my little sister. It was a pretty horrible situation, actually. I mean, what kind of older brother these days lives in his sister's shadows, being outperformed in every area possible by her?

She seemed to be being accosted by a group of delinquents. This isn't exactly an uncommon sight, as my sister could be what some people (not me) consider to be "cute". I couldn't bother less about her. She was literally any one of those other girls being hit on that I would not want to get involved in.

I purposely made sure I was facing away from Kirino when I walked past her and the group of punks.

Manami seemed to have noticed Kirino and was staring straight at me with a frustrated expression. I did nothing, just waved for her to hurry up. She would need to clear the area before my sister did what she usually did in these situations and stuff started flying all over the place.

Manami hurried over to my side looking forlornly at me as Akagi, ever the oblivious one, continued talking. From behind me, I could hear panicked yells and the rush of wind. It was pretty clear what was happening, so I didn't look back.

A delinquent fell down right in front of my face.

I could feel Kirino's eyes boring into my back. So she'd finally noticed my presence here... News of my nonchalance would probably reach my parents and they would probably spend another night scolding me for not properly taking care of my sister. However, at this moment in time it didn't really matter to me. I continued walking while Manami looked at Kirino, then back at me. Akagi had pretty much forgotten about us and was roughly 5 meters in front, still talking animatedly. Maybe he thought he looked cool talking while not looking at the person he was talking to.

Kirino suddenly popped up to my right, tripping over the body of the delinquent that had fallen flat in front of my face. She managed to right herself using her ability (which I still did not know as of yet, because I've never bothered) and punted me backwards with it while she was still righting herself. I tripped backwards over my feet and, for lack of her ability, fell on the floor.

She continued walking onwards very quickly, and perhaps unintentionally caused everyone she passed by to lose their balance. It was interesting to see Akagi fall sideways suddenly while gesticulating in the air. He'd been hit particularly hard. Maybe he had mentioned my name at that time. He finally realized how far he'd strayed from the both of us, and hurried back to us quickly.

* * *

"Hyeaaaah, that Tokiwadai girl is pretty rude, isn't she? I don't even know her..." Akagi didn't know about Kirino, and neither did he know about my relationship with her. That was a good thing. I agreed halfheartedly, knowing Manami was quite upset about how I'd acted. I didn't particularly care, but it was still pretty unnerving to have her stare into your back with a nonplussed expression. I could have sworn she'd found a way to reverse engineer her Dummy Check and make people feel like they're being noticed.

There was something from out of the corner of my eye when I stood up.

She'd probably dropped something. I didn't really want to get involved, but I decided to pick it up anyways. I could probably pass it to her the next time we went home together. It was probably going to lead to one or two more terse lines between us, so it wouldn't change much. I couldn't let Akagi notice what I was doing, so I deftly slid out my hand and slipped the object into my bag without looking at it. I then promptly forgot about it.

* * *

"Kous... sa... Ans... ques... boa..."

I was sitting at the back of the class and staring at the sun slowly come up over a skyscraper. The feeling of the sun on my face was pretty good... It was too bad that it was going to be winter again pretty soon, although the environmental technology in Academy City allowed the Tree Diagram, the supercomputer that was also the first geostationary satellite platform not on the equatorial axis, to control conditions in the area so as to make the seasons hit less hard. As such, summers weren't really that hot and winters weren't really that cold. Speaking of cold, why was Kirino always so cold to me?

"Kousaka... Are... listen...?"

Well, to be honest, I didn't really do much as an older brother to merit my little sister's affections, so I couldn't really blame her. Also, she's someone with amazing accomplishments, so much so that she could get into Tokiwadai Middle School... Hey, isn't that a Tokiwadai girl there? Oh, it's two... Why are they waiting outside the school? Aren't there classes going on? Speaking of which, aren't I in class right now? I should probably turn back to pay attentio-

Why is Hiiragi-sensei staring at me with an evil look in her eyes?

"Kousaka-san... How many times have I called you..."

"Ah... Er... Ahahaha, I just got mesmerized by the rising sun for a bit... Ehehe?"

"Kousaka... san..."

This is bad. I'm probably going to have to prepare my epitaph with the murderous look on her face. I close my eyes and cower in a corner of the chair. There is the sound of something being kicked and something hard hitting the floor.

"Ohoho, Kousaka-san, what's this here...?"

Heh? She stopped? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I certainly don't remember having anything sounding plastic in my bag.

"So you like this kind of thing, huh...?" There was the sound of laughter and the opening of a plastic case. The moment that case cracked open, the laughter stopped. I don't think it was anything good. I should probably play along, huh...?

"Y-Yeah, I do... Is there anything wrong?"

I opened my eyes to look at Hiiragi's face. It was completely pale, and she seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Uh... Sensei...? What's wrong...?"

She choked up her saliva and threw the case at my face.

"W-Why don't you take a good look at the title and rating of that, b-before you ask me such a stupid question?"

I stared at the cover. There was some magical girl on the cover with pink hair waving what seemed to be an oddly shaped staff. The title read "Stardust Witch Meruru", and it was rated for children. I couldn't see what Hiiragi-sensei was so worked up about. I mean, even if I did like little girls' anime, why should there be such an overreaction? I opened my mouth.

"Don't try to hide it from me, Kousaka-san. I know what's inside."

Wouldn't the DVD from the anime be inside? I opened the cover and saw immediately that the contents were different from the packaging. There were a bunch of ribbons lying around, conveniently censoring certain parts of a young girl's undeveloped prepubescent body. There was an R-18 label in the bottom right corner of the DVD, and the title read "Make Love With Little Sister". Yeah.

Wait, what?

WHAT?

What was this doing in my bag? I must have been looking utterly dumbfounded, because Hiiragi-sensei asked, "S-S-So, it's not yours?"

"Of course not!"

I stared at the cover.

"Heh, Kousaka, what'cha got there? I want to see!"

The singular voice of Akagi rose up from the class, and the class began slowly breaking the silence. There was chattering all over the place as Hiiragi-sensei tried to keep everyone calm. I slipped the case back into my bag and Hiiragi-san went out of the classroom with tears in her eyes and red on her face.

* * *

"So, Kousaka, what's this thing ya have here that's gotten Hiiragi-sensei so worked up?"

"Akagi, if you value your life, you should probably stop asking stupid questions."

"Heeehhh? We're roommates, so shouldn't we share our deepest darkest secrets with each other? I mean, I'm probably gonna find out about it someday anyway. Like that stash of porn mags you tucked into your mattress."

Manami gasped slightly.

"Why'd you have to go and bring that up?"

"Well, to try and get you to show me... This!"

He somehow fished the DVD case out of my bag and cracked it open quickly. The Akagi beside me faded away.

Dammit, I fell for his trick. Akagi was a user of Trick Art, which allowed him to distort light. He was also a Level 2 user, so it must have been a pretty big stretch of his abilities to be able to do that.

"Ohoho... Kyousuke's a siscon?"

Manami gasped again and seemed to hang her head in sorrow or shame. Don't act like you're ashamed to know me, dammit!

"No, no, I just picked it up off the side of the street..."

"Really now?" Akagi sighed. "And I thought I was about to get a comrade in this as well..."

"Yeah, haha... Wait, what?"

Akagi waved the DVD in my face.

"This is pretty rare in Academy City, it's said that there are only 7 copies in here. The person who lost this must be feeling pretty bad about himself... Should I return this? Or should I keep it? Guhehehe..."

Akagi began to drool on the DVD. I should probably return this to whoever it belonged to. I snatched it away and unceremoniously stuffed it with the case into my bag. But really, though, who did this belong to, exactly? I thought it was Kirino's, but looking at what it was, I could very safely conclude that it wasn't hers. But, just for the sake of thoroughness, I should probably try and check as well... Though I'd be branded with the new title of "Pervert" in the process.

As I rounded the corner with the downcast Manami and the gushing Akagi, I saw Kirino. She was back where she had met me this morning. She was staring at the floor in a downcast manner. I wonder...?

I waited until we were within earshot of Kirino and I was sure she would hear us. Then I asked Akagi a question designed to lure her out.

"Hey, Akagi..."

"Hmm?"

"This is where I picked up that thing."

"Don't call it a thing! 'Make Love With Little Sister', though seemingly mainstream for being packaged in that Meruru case, is goddamn rare! People like you won't understand!"

Having drawn the two names out of his mouth, I looked at Kirino. She'd frozen up and her mouth was slightly ajar. It couldn't possibly be that, but Kirino's reaction really led me to believe that this was hers. It was unthinkable, but now that I'd seen this, I couldn't rule out that reaction. Akagi, rambling about his things, didn't notice Kirino again. That was good.

I should probably leave this to tomorrow to think more about. Right now, what I wanted to do was to enjoy Manami's cooking and take a rest from this stressful afternoon.

* * *

I was ready to go to bed. Having filled myself with Manami's food, I returned to my humble bed and prepared my things for tomorrow. I opened the window to let some fresh air in; air conditioning was really expensive, and the temperature at night in Academy City was always just right for sleeping. I leapt onto my bed, flicked a button on my alarm clock and waited for sleep to come to me. It came slowly but surely.

I slipped into a dreamy state. I dreamt that Kirino burst in silently through the window, and decelerated her fall slowly. She closed the windows and locked the doors, then came on top of me. My dreams were really going into dangerous territory here...

_Smack._

My eyes went wide open. I'd been shocked out of that dreamy state by the force of that slap. I turned my head towards the ceiling and could not believe my eyes.

"Ki... Kirino?"

[1] : Obaa-san refers to one's grandmother.

**Author's Note : And that's the end! I know cliffhangers suck, but I would like some responses before proceeding with my work. Thanks for your reviews!**


	2. Chapter 2 - Who Are You

**Author's Note : Thanks for your support so far! Here's the promised second chapter! From here on out the plotline will be largely divergent from both the original Majutsu and Oreimo plotlines, so wish me luck! Do note as well that this chapter will be very science-heavy in the middle (look at me flaunting my physics knowledge), so if you don't understand any of the banter that goes on there, don't hesitate to PM me or even Google search the terms in question! Do continue to support this series!**

"Ki... Kirino?!"

"Shh!"

She put her finger on my lips and leaned forward towards my face. Kirino, do you know how compromising this position is?! Please just let this be nothing but a very weird dream... I closed my eyes. Go away... Just go away...

I got another slap to the face.

Red appeared in my vision, and I opened my eyes to see Kirino still there, staring spitefully at me.

"Don't just go back to sleep!"

This couldn't be happening. Why was this happening? Why in the world is my sister on top of me, glaring at me?

"Get off me first!" Kirino sighed and complied, getting off the bed. I sat up on the side of the bed and scratched my head. "So? What are you here for?"

"... back."

"Hah? Speak up, I can't hear you!"

"I said I came to get my DVD back! Idiot!"

DVD? Wha-

Oh, that DVD. The DVD that I'd picked up off the sidewalk after watching Kirino beat up those thugs. Wait, if she was here to get them back, then that would mean that they were hers...? It seemed to be so, though it was absolutely unthinkable. Never in a million years would I imagine my high-flying Tokiwadai little sister to have this kind of game. It was a shocker for me, at least. It was more likely that I would hold an eroge in my hands than Kirino, no matter how you argued the situation.

Whatever, I couldn't care anymore.

"Oh, that?" I rummaged through my bag and stood up, taking it out. I held it above Kirino's head and watched as she (cutely) tried to get it from my outstretched hands. "Before that, I want to clarify some things."

Kirino bared her teeth and started yelling, "This has nothing to do with you!" It seemed she'd forgotten where exactly she was. It would be very hard to explain this if Akagi suddenly came into the room. I needed to get this over and done with quickly.

"Firstly," I held the DVD up even higher. "Are you absolutely sure that this is yours and nobody else's?"

"O-Of course!"

"Even the eroge inside the DVD case?"

Kirino seemed to get even more embarrassed. "Just shut up and pass it to me!"

"Secondly, you know exactly what you're doing, right?"

"I know! Shut up and go die! Give - it - to - me!"

"Fine." I brought my hand down, hitting her head with the case in the process. She snatched it away from my fingers and made her way towards the window. That's it, leave. Leave my life again and we'll pretend this never hap-

No, why's she stopping? Why is she stopping?

"... Hey..."

Oh hell no, she's giving me that cutely uneasy face. She was about to ask me something she didn't really want to, it seemed.

"... Do you think it's... Weird... If I have these things?"

Weird...? I don't exactly know what she's pinpointing at, but this is probably the only chance I'll ever get to act like a big brother, so I reply.

"... Of course not."

Her ears perked up and she turned her head slightly. It seemed that she was almost on the verge of tears at this point and she hugged the DVD case as tightly as she could.

"Well, it is a bit surprising coming from you, but I don't think it's weird in the way that you make it out to be. I mean, it's your hobby, isn't it? What would you be without a hobby?" I wasn't sure exactly why I was doing this. I mean, sure, this is what I really thought, but I'd subconsciously started saying it in such a way so as to comfort Kirino. She pouted (stop doing that!) and looked at me. "You're not lying?"

"Of course not! There's nothing wrong, is there?"

She seemed slightly taken aback for a few seconds, before nodding in understanding. She dropped her DVD in her bag and opened the window, preparing to leave. I just dropped back onto my bed; I had neither the strength nor the energy to continue dealing with such weird situations any further. It was then that a thought struck me.

"Hey, Kirino..." With a foot on the windowsill, she looked back at me with a quizzical look on her face. "How the hell did you get into my room?"

"Hah? Weren't you there when I was telling our parents?" She frowned, then smirked. "Since I'm a Level 4 Aero Hand user, I can manipulate the air around me by forcing it into ejection points." She raised her finger and gave another one of those stupid smiles. "I just used it on certain points of my body to generate lift! Cool, isn't it! Probably much better than what you have."

"... So you flew into my window."

"Hah? What's with that tone? You should be honored that such a high ability user is coming into your room!"

"Whatever, just fly off already."

Kirino growled, but she turned around quickly and leapt out the window. I closed it, leaving it slightly open to allow for ventilation and went back to my bed. My eyes slowly closed and I tried to go back to my restful state as quickly as I could. I glanced at the clock.

"Oh crap, it's 2.30 iin the mooooornii..."

* * *

"Kousaka!"

There was a banging on the door.

"Kousaka, if you don't wake up right now you'll be late!"

I shot up from my bed and checked the time; I really was pretty late. Grabbing the clothes on the wall, I began to slowly strip off my clothes.

That was, of course, until I heard a small sound from the window.

Kirino was crouching on the windowsill, getting ready to come in. She looked horrified at seeing my naked, bent-over self. I slipped into my wardrobe to put on my clothes, then came out acting normally.

"Yahaha... Good morning... Kirino...?"

"You... you... youyouyouyou...!"

I heard air rushing and knew what was coming. Quickly doing the calculations, I activated my ability on myself. It hurt like hell, but that was the effect of the pressure; the force of the air was still amazingly bearable by my ability. According to the pressure exerted, I calculated that the force that the air was exerting on me was barely enough for me to resist with Equal Speed. Basically I was maintaining my own velocity at zero so as not to be swept away by the air. I could feel the air's contact area expanding and contracting on my body, but the force was still the same.

Kirino could not beat me.

After bearing this state where I could not move any part of myself for a while, Kirino gave up and I loosened the usage of the Equal Speed. My room looked like a whirlwind had blown through it (probably because one just did). Akagi banged the door again.

"Kousaka! What have you been doing! Did your powers suddenly allow you to make whirlwinds?"

"Ahaha, I'm not sure what I'm talking about. Anyway, you and Manami go on first; I'll catch up with you both later."

"O... Okay, man... See you..."

With the Akagi problem solved, I could try and work it out with Kirino, who was still standing there with an expression sharp as a dagger. Well, here goes nothing.

"S-So, Kirino. What are you doing in my room so early?"

"Shut up, pervert."

"Isn't it your fault for flying in while I was changing?!" Being called a pervert for my little sister flying in while my pants were halfway up is way too much! Why are you even here anyway?!"

"A-Ah, that... That is..." She began looking all over the place and mumbling under her breath.

"I don't have all day, so hurry up and tell me."

"I just wanted to meet you in District 15, okay?! I-It's nothing much to ask for, is it?"

Huh? Meet? Me? Kirino? Is this a joke? This must be a joke, right? She wants to meet me? "What for?"

"N-Nothing much... Hey, I don't like your attitude. Shouldn't you be honored to have even the chance to be seen near me in public?"

"Why should I?"

Kirino looked shocked for a moment. She stuck out her tongue and leapt out the window. Now that nobody was there, I opened the door, making sure I didn't forget anything. "Ah, at least he wasn-"

Akagi was staring at me in the face.

This was a big problem, a big one indeed. If Akagi had heard all that and figured out what had been going on, I would never be able to live it down. He'd also probably start making advances towards Kirino, and it would all become one big, awkward affair. This was a matter that required the utmost delicacy. I needed to make sure he either would not understand what had happened, or that he forgot about it completely. Preferably both.

"Kousaka, are you not telling me something...?"

"A... Ahahahaha~ Of course not, Akagi~ What gave you such ideas, you... Ahahaha~"

"Oh really? Tamura didn't come over today, and I heard a girl's voice in your room... Was Tamura in there?"

Manami didn't come this morning? That was interesting. She came over every morning, so it was pretty unusual and worrying; the good thing was, though, I could work this to my advantage.

"Y-Yeah, Manami just went out the... Window..." Ah, I just spat it out without thinking it through. Now Akagi will be wondering how she got out the window.

"What was Tamura doing in your room in the morning, eh? Kousaka... What are you doing... Why have you forsaken your good friend..."

"A-Ah, no, you've got it wrong, Akagi!" I think I just shot myself in the foot there. I wasn't prepared to explain (or, more accurately, make up an excuse) that to Akagi. I could either take his questions head on and do something stupid, or risk even more misunderstandings by trying to change the topic. Aah, what to do...

"... Akagi?"

"Hmm, yes, Kousaka?"

"I was lying. I'm sorry. I was on my computer till morning." This was the best way out.

"Kousaka, just because I'm curious about what you did with Tamura last night doesn't mean that I'm disapproving of it. I'm not going to tell anyone about it either; it can be a secret between the three of us, okay? Just don't get her pregnant." Akagi left the room before I could argue back, or try to clear up the misunderstanding again. There was nothing more about this situation that I could do; I just had to take it as it was. I sighed and packed my bag for the day ahead. I checked the calendar.

"Oh, today's the second quarterly System Scan, huh...?" The last System Scan wasn't so much of a good thing since it was revealed that I hadn't really improved much. Since then, I'd tried to use my ability whenever possible to hone it so that I could get better, and so that I could get more money. The way Academy City worked was that students were given monetary grants every month based on the prestige of the school the student attended, or the level of the student. This also translated into the student having to participate in more research projects, or even have stricter school rules. However, the only thing I really cared about right now was the money; if I could prove that I'd improved during this System Scan, I could get a raise in the amount of money I got every month. That would be quite handy, considering quite a bit of the furniture in my dorm room was practically falling apart...

One could probably say that I was too young to be worrying so much about money and household finances, but being an independent student in Academy City while my parents' money was lavished on my little sister was a very stressful experience.

* * *

"Next is... Student 16807, Kousaka Kyousuke. Please come into the testing room." I got up from my seat and went into the classroom that had been designated as the testing room. Through the window, I could see students all leaving the school looking dejected. This was because during the System Scan, what would happen was that normal lessons would be cancelled to allow the researchers and testers to freely use the facilities; however, students that had increased their level were instructed to remain after the System Scan so that the teachers and testers could help them get accustomed to their new strength, and to cement it in that level.

"Okay, Kousaka-san, let's start the test, shall we?" The tester waited for a response, then continued when there was none. "Today we will be testing your current level of capabilities and also the next level to see whether you can be considered to have gotten better." He checked his list. "Level 2 Equal Speed, huh... First, I would like you to throw this ball into this panel." He passed me a steel ball bearing, and pointed to a makeshift panel set up in the centre of the classroom. To the side of the panel there was a beam with measuring equipment attached to it. He wanted to see the maximum resistive force that I could negate with my ability. I complied and threw the ball into the panel. The panel stretched inwards, and I made the calculations such that I was able to maintain the velocity of the bearing by nullifying the elastic resistive forces provided by the elastic panel and the gravitational force by the Earth. Finally, when it got too much, I let the ball go, causing it to be shot into a cushion behind my head.

"I see... The panel was displaced by 5.78m... The panel had a spring constant of roughly 295N/m... That would be 1710N of resistive force that you negated for a 10kg mass." The tester nodded enthusiastically. "This means that you can negate acceleration up to 171m/s per second. Congratulations, Kousaka-san, you seem to have improved from your previous rating of 157m/s per second; a drastic improvement. Now, let's move on to the test for Level 3." He took out a tuning fork. Was I supposed to throw it?

"Now, Kousaka-san, we're going to test for your ability to control other vectors."

"Other vectors? What do you mean?" The tester gave a kind smile, the kind you gave to children while explaining why the sky changed color during the day.

"You see, Kousaka-san, Equal Speed is a subset of the umbrella ability, Vector Change. Because your level was too low, you were only able to control force-related vectors. Ability to control other vectors starts emerging at Level 3, though it is still weaker than your control over force vectors until Level 4, or even Level 5." He held up the tuning fork. "Since we already know your 'specialty' is in mechanical vectors, we want to test your control over other vectors, like sound, heat, or even perhaps electricity." I was stunned. This was pretty sudden to me. It meant that there was a hope of me being able to control even electricity and sound. My ability was actually more powerful than I thought. Lost in my thoughts, the tester waved the tuning fork in my face.

"Kousaka-san, are you ready? I'm going to direct the sound from the tuning fork towards you now; please try and deflect it back towards me. I'll do it 5 times, so you can get a feel of what the waves feel like and how to compute them." The tuning fork was struck, and a sound was passed towards me. Having never done this before, I tried to redirect the vectors of the sound the way I usually did on my ball bearings; it didn't work, and the sound just passed through.

"Don't worry, Kousaka-san. Now that you know what it feels like, I could probably explain to you how to redirect the sound." He launched into a 5 minute lecture about sound vectors being longitudinal waves and force vectors being simpler, more direct vectors. The most important part of his advice seemed to be the part about me having to alternate my redirection or nullification according to the way the sound changed. The second time I tried it, I'd managed to block out about a tenth of the sound.

"You're doing well, Kousaka-san. This shows that you have potential to control sound. Next will be heat." He set up two horizontal rods close to each other, and put a candle at the end of one rod. "Now, Kousaka-san, normally the heat wouldn't transmit across the gap. I want you to maintain the vector of the radiating heat. Bear in mind that the vector for heat is transverse since heat is radiated through the use of electromagnetic waves. It will be a bit harder than the redirection for the sound, though it should be okay for you if you're a Level 3." This time, having learnt from the sound test, I began to systematically redirect the heat radiated from one rod towards the other rod. Some heat was lost in the process, but I'd still managed to heat the other rod by about 15 degrees Celsius by the end of the test.

"Wonderful. Now, on to electricity." The tester set up a simple circuit, with an ammeter that pointed towards the right. "This is a direct current power supply, which means that the current flows in one direction only." He pointed at a purposely exposed bit of wire. "Place your finger there and try and redirect the current in the other direction. Don't worry, you aren't earthed so you won't be electrocuted." He saw the concern on my face and quickly moved to allay my fears. I touched the wires and tried to feel the current.

It was certainly a different experience from what I knew. It was a sensation even more special than that of the heat waves or sound waves. The feeling was comparable to having a few thousand ants simultaneously crawl across my fingertips. Though I forced my brain to do some unusual calculations, I didn't manage to divert the flow of the current completely; rather, I was able to keep the current flowing even after the cell was replaced with a strip of wire. I couldn't induce current; all I did was to continue its flow. I also kept the current flow at zero when the cell was put back in again.

"Interesting..." The tester stared at the ammeter, and logged the results of the tests. He seemed to have, in all his activity, forgotten about me entirely. I raised my voice carefully.

"So... Does that mean that I can leave now?"

"Sure, you may." Ah, I didn't -

"Oh, also, Kousaka-san, don't forget to stay back. I will see you later at roughly..." His eyes flicked to the bottom right of his monitor. "3PM later today. Please call in the next student."

Did that mean...? Yes, it did.

I'd successfully "leveled up".

* * *

"Congratulations, Kousaka..." Akagi pouted and dropped his head onto the desk. "Lucky you. I'm still a Level 0, you know that? Damn you, Kousaka, I can't go on living like this forever!" He pounded the table, drawing attention to himself. "If only there was some way of making money in this goddamned city without being an esper, I'd take it! Happily!"

"Oi, keep quiet, you're drawing others' attention!" I brought my fist down on Akagi's head lightly. "Don't worry about it. We're friends after all, right? Just don't get into trouble."

"Kousaka, stop it... You're being way too kind for your own good... Why won't you kick out a useless bum like me who can barely earn enough to pay for his own food..."

"Do you really want me to kick you out? I can get Manami to replace you if you want, or I could find someone else. Do you want that?"

"... No."

"Then, what's this all about?"

Akagi tilted his head and stared at me with one eye, then closed it and sighed. "Kousaka, if you're this nice to everyone you meet, sooner or later you'll be taken advantage of, you know?"

"Just shut up and get your lunch already, you lazy ass."

We got up and moved over to the cafeteria vending machine together. After choosing our food and paying for it, we went to collect it and then went back to our original seat. We ate our food in silence, until Akagi broke it rudely.

"Mmph, Koufaka, av' oo' erd ofh so'bobby wi' oor abi'y?"

"Akagi, please swallow before you try and tell me something; your tofu is getting in my rice."

"I wanted to ask you if you've heard of somebody with your new ability. What'dyou call it... Vector Change?"

"No, I don't think so..."

"Kousaka, listen to me." Akagi took out his datapad and accessed the public database. "I remembered suddenly that one of the 7 Level 5s is a Vector Change user as well." He swiped the datapad until he found what he looked for. "Here, Kousaka, watch this."

It seemed to be a video someone had taken down with their phone, and uploaded onto the Internet. It was titled, "Immortal Esper". Just looking at the title gave me goosebumps.

The video was very low quality, and the viewer could hear the video taker's breath. He seemed to be filming this from an alleyway, and the camera was focused on a lone, lanky, white-haired individual. He carried two plastic bags and was just stepping out of a supermarket. Within a few seconds, a gang of about 15 people appeared around him. Under normal circumstances, even a pretty high-level esper would just give up to such numbers. The white-haired person seemed to have given up as well, as he did nothing but stand there as the leader of the gang stepped up and talked. He didn't respond, and after a few tense minutes the gang raised their weapons - baseball bats, knives, a taser.

The battle was over in a few seconds.

The moment the weapons came anywhere near the boy, they were immediately flung back into the face of their wielder. The taser bolt seemed to be redirected straight back at the owner. The boy didn't even do anything, he had just stood there while the gang took their crack at him. Those who could still walk tried to run away, and he shouted after them.

"If you want to fight, at least make it a bit fun for me..." His words were cut off by something black rising from the ground into his face and deflecting off. The camera zoomed in to show a maniacal smile form on the boy's face.

"Oh, so you want to play this way, huh...?" He gave a weird laugh that made me shiver in fright. "Flux Coat, bending asphalt, huh... Well, too bad, that would be a good ability to fight with if you had chosen your opponent properly..." The camera panned to show the other esper's shocked face as he turned tail and ran.

"Oi, oi, you want to play, right? Using asphalt against me? Here's some of your precious asphalt back!" He nudged the liquefied asphalt and sent it flying towards the running esper, knocking him down and covering his limbs in solidifying asphalt. He swaggered over to the terrified delinquent esper and gave that smile. "You'd better hope someone else finds you and your friends quickly, before you die stuck in the pavement." With that, he stalked off with his groceries as if nothing had happened.

Akagi took the datapad away from me, who was petrified to the point of not being able to move in any way other than shivers. "Kousaka, please don't become as screwed up as that guy." Akagi patted me on the back, as if to calm me, then sighed. "Though I really can't see you having that kind of power in the near future... He is a Level 5, after all..." He looked at me in the eyes. "It's kind of hard to believe you have the same ability as him now..."

The power of Vector Change was in my hands now - but what was I to do with it?

* * *

At 6PM, I left the school stretching my back. With the help of Hikitani-sensei, I'd managed to get a better grasp of Vector Change, and could use it at a reasonable level now. However, the question still remained - what was I to do with it? No matter how powerful I got, I would never have a real use for such power. I flipped open my phone and remembered this morning.

_Ah, right, I need to meet Kirino in District 15 right about now._

I should have taken the chance to get Kirino's number while I could have, but now I had no way of contacting her. The underground mall was so big, there was the possibility that I would spend my time searching the whole area for Kirino. I would need to be quick about it; maybe Vector Change would help my mobility a bit.

Using Vector Change, I crouched and leapt forward. My reversing the direction of the force vector I'd exerted on the ground, I accelerated myself in the air down the stairs. It seemed that Vector Change was pretty useful, as I used it to avoid obstacles all over Academy City while at the same time accelerating myself along the ground with the help of Vector Change.

* * *

I reached District 15 about 15 minutes later, mentally exhausted from all the calculations I did to weave through the crowd; it seemed I still needed some time to get used to it. I went down the first flight of stairs into the underground shopping mall complex, and immediately spotted Kirino sitting at a cafe, looking as if she was waiting for someone.

This is scary, it's really scary to think that my little sister is waiting for me with such an eager smile on her face.

I made my way over to the cafe through the crowd; she didn't seem to have noticed me. I waved at her to try and get her to come over, but she had absolutely no reaction. With no choice in the matter, I dragged my feet to the table she was sitting at and plonked myself in one of the chairs there. She seemed to jump a little, but I waved it off.

"Hey, Kirino, what'd you ask me out here for?"

"Huh? I asked you here?" Kirino looked puzzled; either her acting was superb or she had honestly forgotten about this morning. If I waited for a few seconds, it would probably come back to her...

...

Her response was the one response I didn't expect from her. Three simple words, enough to strike fear in my heart.

"Who... Are you?"

**Author's Note : All right! Is Kirino faking it? Did something happen? I'll leave all that to your own imagination! XD**

**Do continue supporting this series and giving your reviews on my style, because I value them a lot! I promise that the next chapter won't take too long to come out... Probably. XD**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Queen of Tokiwadai

**Author's Note : I'm now transitioning into this stage where writing is only done during the weekends, so each new chapter should take 2-3 weeks to release. Do continue enjoying this work!**

"Who are you?"

I couldn't believe my ears. Kirino was asking me, the elder brother she hated so much, who I was? Impossible. She must have been faking it. "There's a certain extent to which you can pretend that your elder brother doesn't exist, you know..."

She stared at me, seemingly deep in thought. She examined every part of my body, staring into my eyes at some point. Honestly speaking, it seemed like she was taking the act a bit too far.

Kirino finished what it was she was doing, then threw herself back on her chair. "Nope," she declared. "I don't know you at all."

"What?!" Look, Kirino, you honestly expect me to believe that you don't know who I am? "Stop joking around. You asked me to meet you here, and here I am; is this how you treat someone who you've specifically asked out?" Kirino shifted uncomfortably, in an unnaturally natural way.

It was almost as if she wasn't really acting.

She looked down at the table and said, "I-I know what you're trying to do... Don't try to hit on me. Please."

"... What?"

"For your own safety, you shouldn't try to hit on me."

I was astounded at the words that came out of her mouth. She thought I was hitting on _her_, of all people? I don't even know where to start with how screwed up this situation is! "Kirino, look here -"

"Aah, Kirino-chan, did you wait long?" An unnaturally sweet voice came out of nowhere. I turned to the left and saw a girl wearing Kirino's uniform. The most striking thing about her was not her long, blond hair, and neither was it the unusually large breasts (I'm a healthy high school boy!); no, the most interesting thing about this person was the shape of her eyes. Her pupils were in the shape of a star.

She was, quite literally, a starry-eyed girl.

"Ah, Queen-sama, good timing!" I heard Kirino chirp in a voice and tone I had never really heard before. It was the words and tone of a middle school girl trying to sound cute. What was this supposed to be, a clique or something...? Did I accidentally get into the harem route? I didn't do anything to that end though...

"Queen-sama, this man here claims to be my elder brother, which he most definitely is not," I heard Kirino complain to the girl. "What should we do about it?"

"Ara? Arararararara~~?"

The star-eyed girl had this cutesy way of talking that sickened me to the stomach. I had no idea why Kirino was pretending she didn't know me. Was she embarrassed that I was here? It was quite rude, really, calling your family member here only to be too ashamed of his presence to acknowledge him. I turned my body towards Kirino, and from the corner of my eye I saw the star-eyed girl move towards me.

"Well, we can't help it, can we~"

I'm not sure what exactly it was about her arm that made me panic a bit, but I scrambled to use Auto-Reflect. It was just in time.

The moment her hand made contact with my head, I felt a small shock through my spine. Luckily, my Auto-Reflect had activated in time and I managed to discharge it. The discharging of the electrical pulse caused her to fall over backwards slightly. An Electromaster?

"Arara? Kirino-chan, could you leave us for a while?" Normally my sister would have sensed that something was amiss, but in this instance she just got up and walked away. Watching her leave, I turned my attention to the star-eyed girl.

"Now, we can get down to business." Sugary voice lost, the star-eyed girl stared at me with eyes that could kill. "What are you? Who are you?"

"I'm that girl's elder brother." I couldn't bring myself to say Kirino's name just like that yet, but I still sure as hell wanted to know what in the world was going on. "What the hell's going on here? What are you to her? Why is she pretending not to recognize me?"

The girl sighed. "She's probably not pretending." She flashed a half-malicious, half-innocent smile at me. "It's a side effect, more like."

"Side effect?" It took a while for the words to sink in. "You..."

"Don't worry, I didn't do anything too bad..." She grinned again and got on the table. She put her finger on my gaping mouth, as if to silence me. "Now I want to ask some questions of my own." Another pulse came from her fingers, and I reflected it again.

"So, tell me. Why won't my Mental Out ability affect you?" She brought her hand down and stared me in her eyes. It was somewhat surreal to be talking to someone with star-shaped eyes. "Usually, I'd be able to control some anonymous idiot like you easily..."

"Mental Out...?"

"Yes, Mental Out," She stared directly at me with those surreal eyes of hers, standing up and arching her back with pride. Talking to her would never get old. "I'm able to manipulate my targets' memories and tamper with them. I don't believe I need to say anything more."

Something about that description matched with something in my head. Mental Out... 'Queen-sama'... Tokiwadai Middle School... Then, it hit me.

"You're one of the Level 5 espers in Academy City!"

She giggled. "Spot on, Idiot-san! I, Shokuhou Misaki, am the Mental Out of Tokiwadai Middle School... Otherwise known as the Queen of Tokiwadai. It's interesting for you to have heard of me, I seem to recall giving Misaka-san the public spotlight ability..."

Idiot-san...? That touched me off on a few levels, but there was still a problem that I had to resolve. A problem that was walking around listlessly before my eyes and giving me confused stares.

"You..."

"Hm?"

"You manipulated my sister..."

"So?" The Starry-Eyed Queen looked at me in confusion. "If my memory ability doesn't fail me, I don't recall you being in even 10% of Kirino-chan's memories. Why would it make a difference to you? Or are you the kind of older brother who depends on his stalking power to take care of his sister?"

Though she got on my nerves, I knew she was right in quite a few ways. I'd never really cared for my sister. Though it seemed like pure nonchalance, I think on some level I truly disliked Kirino. She never held any respect for me, never talked to me, and I didn't care enough to return the favor. We wouldn't even talk when we were at home, with our parents, and even they had grown to accept that the both of us didn't give a damn about each other; that was how bad the relationship between us was. However...

"... She's still my little sister," I began imagining what would happen if I wanted to start a fight right now. I had no idea why I was doing this. It certainly wasn't out of any sense of duty that was lying dormant within me; that was something impossible. However, I still wanted to do this. "I don't want her to be under anyone's control!"

"Are you sure, Kousaka-san...?" Shokuhou stared at me with eyes that seemed to bore directly into my soul. "I could manipulate Kirino-chan to make sure that her dere-power for your is _suuuuuuper_ increased, you know? Won't that make us both happy?"

Would I be happy with this? It would certainly be nice to start having some respect given from Kirino's end as her older brother. However, it would mean acquiescing her future to this Starry-Eyed Queen here. It was a somewhat unsettling, yet enticing thought. Kirino wouldn't feel any pain either, and neither would she feel that anything was wrong with the situation; it was a win-win situation for everybody. It would accomplish my preferences, while accomplishing Shokuhou's goals...

Wait a moment, I seemed to be forgetting something really important here. What exactly were Shokohou's goals in manipulating Kirino? That was the really important question here, but I seem to have been drawn away from it by the sweet tongue of this girl. Dammit, she didn't even need to use her esper power to manipulate someone's thought process? I need to be on my guard whenever I interact with Shokuhou in the future, lest I fall into any of her traps.

"So, Kousaka-san? What's your answer?"

"Shokuhou-san, there is this question that I need to ask you before I say anything."

"Ask away, Kousaka-san." She lifted her eyebrows in a mock expression of confusion. "It's not like it's really going to be anything important, seeing as it's you."

"For what purposes are you manipulating my little sister?"

She sighed. "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you. I get the feeling it will seem kind of trivial to you..." She pouted and looked at me, then sighed and looked away. "In the top schools of Academy City, there are things called factions.

"Factions are what you'd call a 'clique', just that it determines a lot of what you can do. For example," Shokuhou began to count with her fingers, "Requesting for larger funding power, national events like Daihaseisai, influence over the outside, even... And if you try and start a new faction, the bigger ones will most likely just eat you up and assimilate you into theirs." Shokuhou's eyes bore into my soul once again. "It's a benefit for everyone, because everyone gets better treatment in general in Academy City by being a part of a faction, and even better if you're in one of the prominent ones. Like miine ~"

"... Heh?" It sounded a lot less sinister than I initially thought it would be. Having never heard of this kind of thing before, I couldn't be sure whether it was a good thing or not.

"You heard what I said, it's going to be good in the long run for Kirino-chan ~!" Shokuhou blindsided me and managed to sidle up to my side. It did seem beneficial, but there was still this nagging doubt about it...

I didn't want to care. I really didn't. However, there was something nagging at me in my head. I had no clue, but it sought to wrench control from me. I let it out.

"Look, I don't know what this is, but..." The thought that flashed my mind - and the words that would soon tumble out with it - forced me to lower my head in embarrassment.

"I don't know what you're doing, but I will protect my little sister!"

With that over, I lifted my red face to meet the bemused face of Shokuhou. She narrowed her eyes and smirked.

"Fine... If you want to battle, so be it ~" Shokuhou slipped her hand into her handbag; I activated Auto-Reflect for the front of my body. It could cover a large part of my body, though to be used effectively it could only cover roughly a third of my skin area. I braced myself for a bullet from the front.

She giggled. "I'm not about to give up an essential part of my plans so easily, Kousaka-san..." She took out a small pad and tapped a few buttons on it.

I fell on the ground numbly.

After a few seconds, I looked up from my position lying down and saw that there was a small crowd of people around me. They parted and Shokuhou strode through them. Their eyes seemed to be lacking... Something.

Shokuhou squatted down on top of my torso, and stared at me in the eyes. She smiled and cocked her head to her side, then reached out her fingers to my face. I tried to think clearly, but the numbness stopped all calculation ability.

She leaned in closer and whispered something I couldn't hear properly. Whatever she said, I didn't care. There was only one thing I cared about.

"I will fight you. I will win, and I will take back my little sister. Just you wait."

Shokuhou backed off a bit, seemingly surprised, then gave a bigger smile. Then she put a finger on my forehead.

* * *

I opened my eyes. My room was dark, as was the sky outside. There was a gasp, and a sigh. I looked to my right, and saw Manami and Akagi sitting beside my bed. Manami had tears in her eyes, while Akagi sat there with a concerned look.

"Oi, oi, Kousaka, what happened? Tamura's been crying her eyes out since we found you... What the hell have you been doing?"

I opened my mouth automatically and waited for the answer to spring out. However, there was no answer.

"... I have no clue myself... What _have_ I been doing?"

**Author's Note : This chapter is a bit shorter than the rest. So sorry for the delay in getting this out! I've had my hands full of books preparing for my exams, so I couldn't really write much. I promise that the next chapter will reveal - and create - some mysteries! Thank you for taking an active interest in this story so far!**


	4. Chapter 4 - Shock and Electromaster

**Author's Note : I intend to get the action started ASAP. Rest easy, dear readers, epic esper fights will be coming! Aww yeah!**

The day was normal.

There was nothing particularly out of the ordinary about it. I'd done the usual things I did in the morning, listened halfheartedly to the teacher teach history, and spent my recess with Manami and Akagi. Everything I'd done today had not deviated from the norm.

If so, why the hell was I in a girl's dorm room with a pissed-off Level 4?!

* * *

"Manami, what are you cooking for dinner today?"

The three of us were standing together in a small supermarket, getting groceries for dinner. Manami was beaming with a certain measure of joy, and daintily glided around plucking carrots and picking slabs of meat. She seemed to be enjoying herself quite a lot. I watched as Akagi snuck away and grabbed a couple porn mags. With the swiftness and stealth of a ninja, he paid for them and slipped them in his bag before reappearing behind the unsuspecting Manami.

"(Oi, Kousaka, got a couple for you.)"

He opened up a small slit in his bag, beckoning me over. I heeded his call and peered inside the compartment. They weren't exactly the most hardcore, but the quickest scan allowed me to divide them into two overarching categories - girls with glasses and lolis.

"(Kousaka, the megane ones are for you, go practice with them before turning your charm on Tamura.)"

"(What?! What the hell are you saying?! Go die, you asshole!)"

Even so, I reluctantly accepted his offer. It certainly wasn't because I had any particular leanings towards girls with glasses... No, it was because my good friend had done this for me, and I couldn't reject his goodwill on this. Yes, yes, it had absolutely nothing to do with any fetish for girls wearing glasses.

"Kyou-chan, Kyou-chan..."

I snapped back into reality and tried to respond.

"Yes, ManamAAAAAAAGH!"

I'd seen her cute face staring at me wonderingly and started bleeding from my nose, as if a dam had somehow been broken.

"K-K-K-Kyou-chan, are you okay?! I'll go get a tissue from your bag!"

Before I could process what she'd said, she opened my bag and the mags I'd so unceremoniously stuffed in there dropped out and scattered all over the floor. I'd only seen the front of the stack, so I wasn't prepared for the, er, spectacle which greeted my (and Manami's, and the multitude of students') eyes. I'd just managed to muster up a response to her earlier statement, but this froze me on the spot again. Akagi backed off into a corner and clutched at his stomach, laughing like mad. Manami just stared at the scattered magazines on the floor with a red face.

"Kyou... chan...?"

Ah, crap. How was I supposed to explain this...

"Kyou-chan, they all have glasses..." Manami scanned through the magazines cautiously and then gave me a somewhat shy smile. I had been expecting her to break down in tears or something, but her reaction was far beyond my range of what I'd anticipated. I shot the mirthful Akagi another glare, then tried to find a way to pick them up that didn't feel awkward.

* * *

For the rest of the time in the supermarket, Manami had been just as bouncy as before (not in that sense), if not more so. The way she acted was almost a large flag telling me that there was some sort of huge misunderstanding somewhere. As we wandered back home, I slowed my pace and smacked Akagi across the face.

"(Ow! What was that for?)"

"(That entire scene just now was your fault! I didn't even know they sold this kind of stuff in Academy City! In a common supermarket nonetheless!)"

"(Kousaka. Don't just blame others for your carelessness... However, at least Tamura got a kick out of it.)" He snickered. "(And what was with that super well-timed nosebleed, Kousaka? Planning to make some moves on Tamura?)"

"(... Don't joke like that, please.)" I turned back to get away from Akagi and walked smack into someone else.

There had been two girls in front of me, and they hadn't seen me neither. I'd crashed into the shorter one, who had long, blonde hair and blue eyes. I stared up at the second one, who was kind of remarkable since she had stars for pupils, which if you think about it, was more than a little bit unusual. Determined not to let any more misunderstandings happen, I stood up and apologized as they continued on while talking together.

Manami was staring at me with a confused, yet somewhat happy look. She seemed to be waiting, so I leaned against the wall while some time passed.

"Kyou-chan, you're getting along better with Kirino-chan now? Aaah, that's a good thing, isn't it?"

"'Kirino-chan'? Who's that?"

Manami stared at me long and hard with a somewhat angry expression.

"Kyou-chan, don't tell me you forgot you had a little sister?"

"Little sister? What little sister?" Any memories I tried to draw up of any 'little sister' were vague and hazy. Did I have a little sister? I had no clue. However, this could probably be investigated later instead of now. Or should I go and check it out now?

"You were saying her name was... Kirino? And from her uniform, she was from Tokiwadai Middle School. Hmm."

"Kyou-chan, that's really mean of you!"

"Ah, I'm sorry, I really don't remember!" I made up my mind. It seemed, from what Manami had said, that this 'little sister' was quite a big thing in my life. I honestly had no recollections of her, none at all, but I felt that I should at least go try to find her again, either to alleviate my worry or to make sure that I wasn't forgetting anything that was at least a little bit important.

"Manami, I'll be going for a while, be back for dinner!" I offloaded my bag onto Akagi and took out the Academy City standard-issue PDA. I'd need to first go find the Tokiwadai Middle School dormitory. I stopped myself for a minute to savor that fact.

I was about to hunt down a girls' dormitory.

* * *

There was a panel outside, and it had numbers on it. I had no idea what the numbers were for, or how to begin operating it. I could only hope to stop one of the Tokiwadai students going in and try my best to not seem like a pervert while asking how to use the stupid thing. If I was honest with myself, though, I was already looking like a pervert by standing right outside the dormitory door. I could hear the students passing behind me muttering about what I was doing.

A girl with long black hair which went slightly past her shoulders appeared on the nearby junction. She was a Tokiwadai student, as was evident from her uniform, and seemed to be moving towards the dormitory.

Perfect.

I sidled up to the wall closer to the angle from which she would walk towards the door and tried to act as normal as one could possibly act while standing outside the dormitory of a girls' school. Now came the important question - should I intercept her before, just as, or after she'd passed me? It was a question of paramount importance, needed to ensure that things did not get awk-

She strode past me.

Panicking, I had no choice but to run after her before the doors closed. "Wait!"

The girl stopped a few steps away from the door to her dormitory. She turned around and stared me right in the face, then stepped slowly towards me... Wait, what? Her hair was shadowing her face, so I couldn't read her expression. I couldn't decide what to do. Should I run? Should I stand my ground bravely?

A pain rippled through my chest.

She stood with a finger directed at my sternum, which felt like it had been burnt. I staggered backwards. An electrical shock?

"Don't you try to hit on me, punk. Get out of here."

Whaaaaaaaaat? Wait a minute, hold up... She thought I was trying to hit on her?

"I-I'm not trying to hit on you, you know..." I said in the nicest and un-hostile voice I could muster while secretly starting the calculations to set up my Auto-Reflect.

She looked up in surprise. "Heh?"

"I'm not! I just... ouch... Wanted to ask you if you could tell me how to operate that thing over there..."

"Heh? Ah?! I'm so sorry!"

The girl quickly flushed and turned away. I'm not trusting her to not shock me again.

"Er, you have to know the room number of the person you're looking for..."

"Ah, so do you know the room of..." I pondered the name. Manami claimed she was my little sister, so she should share the same last name. "Kousaka... Kirino?"

The girl gasped and her face darkened again. "Any reason why you want to find Kirino-chan, punk...?"

"Before you get any more misunderstandings and try and kill me, I'm her older brother." The words flowed naturally out of my mouth.

"Kirino-chan's... Older brother...?" She looked like she'd shocked herself.

"Yes, so can you tell me ho- Wait, you know her?"

"I'm Kirino-chan's roommate..." The girl peered shiftily into the dormitory doors. "Come with me."

And so, I was forced to sneak through a girls' dormitory into a girls' room to talk with a girl about another girl.

* * *

"I've never heard Kirino-chan say anything about a brother..." The girl sat down on her bed. The angle made my skin crawl with excitement. Now that she wasn't showing any murderous intent, she did seem very pretty. If I played my cards right...

"So, what's your name?"

"Ah, Kousaka Kyousuke. You?"

"... Aragaki Ayase."

Ayase, huh... I had to force myself to stop mentally undressing her.

"So, Ayase, where's Kirino?"

Ayase looked down. "She hasn't been talking to me lately..."

"Haah..."

"... And when she does talk, all she does talk about is about the Queen..." Ayase sighed. "I'm quite sure something's happened to her, just that I can't do anything about it..." She shifted uncomfortably. "You know, because the Queen can easily manipulate the whole school against me."

"This Queen has quite a bit of influence, eh?" Concentrate, dammit. _Concentrate on the topic!_

"No, it's just that her Mental Out is quite irritating..."

"Mental... Out?" Those two words struck a vague chord in me. "What's that, a disorder?"

"No, it's her ability. She can manipulate the memories of those she wishes to."

"I see, she can manipulate the me- WHAT?" I stood up.

"She's a Level 5, so her ability permits her to manipulate the memories and will of whomever she pleases, as long as their abilities don't block her..." Ayase explained.

Manipulate... memories?

I tried to draw up any memories, any and all, that I had of any little sister I had ever had in my life. Here I was, standing in the room of someone who was undeniably my little sister, and I had no memories of any event where I interacted with her. In addition, if I tried to remember what I'd done in the past few days, I'd come across certain blocks of time where I couldn't remember anything. This was probably natural, and I'd just forgotten, but the knowledge that there was that kind of power was still chilling.

"So, this person... Is manipulating my little sister?"

"Yes, I suspect so... Kirino-chan hasn't been coming back lately too..." Ayase teared slightly. I would have tried to calm her down if she didn't look so damn cute doing that. I couldn't resist but to gaze and scream internally at the amount of cuteness that was breaking down slightly on the bed opposite of my position.

"..."

"..."

"... Are you, perhaps, looking at me cry...?"

"Heh? No, no, no, no, no, no..."

She stood up and sparks began shooting around in her hair.

"GO AND DIE!"

* * *

And so, I was standing in my little sister's room with her pissed off Level 4 Electromaster roommate who seemed determined to kill me.

The vectors were so strong it took quite a bit to try and direct them into the walls. How much voltage exactly could this girl hurl at me?

"Err...Ayase-san...? Calm down...?"

"Y-Y-You enjoy watching girls cry? IS IT?!"

"Whoa, calm dow-" A bolt struck the wall mere centimetres away from my ear. Of course, I hadn't configured my Auto-Reflect to block off sound, so it hurt.

"Geez, can't you just CALM DOWN FOR A SECOND?!"

Great, I'd just yelled. This was probably going to draw attention from all over and I would never be able to find out what happened. I would probably even be brought in on charges of being a 'pervert who likes yelling in a girls' dormitory'. At least I'd managed to shock her into silence.

"Now, tell me! What exactly does this Queen look like?"

"I-I don't remember exactly, but it seems her most apparent trait is her star-shaped pupils..."

Star-shaped pupils? Then, in that case, didn't I run into this person earlier? Moreover, she was also with the person Manami claimed to be my little sister (though honestly there was no visual similarity).

"Hm... Long, blonder hair?"

"Yes."

"Long bangs?"

"Yes."

"Star-shaped eyes?"

"Yes."

I moved my hands to my chest area. "Big bust size?"

"Ye- what?"

Ayase looked awestruck for a moment before looking down at herself. Sparks began flying about.

"Ah, Ayase-san? I-I was just joking, there's no need to get so... Electrified, hahaha..." She produced two vectors of electricity that shot straight at me.

The thing was, I was only able to redirect one vector of electricity at a time.

I judged the two vectors. One seemed to be aimed at my chest and the other at my... Crotch? Ah, I should quickly bolster that area and protect it. Once I'm sure it's passed, I can try to redirect the other one.

I redirected the vector aimed at my 'vital organs' downwards, in between my legs. I decided to redirect the other vector above. It would seem like a somewhat cool effect.

The electrical bolt hit my nose.

The pain, it burned into my face. I could feel my face contorting into different expressions because of the muscle spasms. What hurt most, though, was the brain.

It seems that the redirection of the bolt upwards caused it to travel upwards as it passed through my body. So, it hit the... If I could recall correctly... The temporal lobe.

The temporal lobe, associated with language and my precious memories.

My brain burned for a few minutes, and during that time I couldn't calculate, couldn't think clearly, and couldn't move. It must have hit the nervous system too, as my limbs seemed to spazz a bit. My hearing was dim.

Ayase seemed to be concerned, as she dashed around the room in what I assumed was a defibrillator or something. If only she could perform CPR. But alas, it wasn't me she was concerned about, and she kicked me under a bed.

From the spot under the bed I could see the door opening and a pair of high-heeled shoes stop at the entrance. The dorm mother or something, maybe?

Then, it began.

I flashed through all my memories for the past week, or even month, and remembered it. All of it.

The little sister who I hated, the starry-eyed girl I'd fought, the words I'd said... It seemed that a zap to the brain in the right place was all I needed. But this shouldn't be possible since Shokuhou could control a person's memories, right? I drew back to what she'd said.

_"... manipulate memories..._"

Then, I recalled the lesson I'd gotten just before that.

_"Before you try anything stupid, you should keep in mind that manipulation is not full-fledged control. You can jerk the vectors any way you like, but you can't create or destroy a vector with your power._"

This meant that Shokuhou hadn't 'destroyed' my memories, she just 'blocked' them out instead. This meant that I still had a fighting chance to get Kirino from her grasp.

The door closed and I made my way out from under the bed. Ayase didn't seem concerned whatsoever about me, and that made me sad.

"... Thanks anyway, Ayase-san."

She turned around in surprise.

"The shock hit the right place and I remember it now." There was only one thing left to do, then; one thing left to try.

"Ayase-san, want to fight with me to get Kirino back?"

**Author's Note : I had a lot of time recently, so I used it to steer the story back on track! However, since my exams are coming up (in a week) I may not be able to update it for a while. So, I'll quickly update this story so that I can rest easy and leave the plot off my mind until they're done. Thanks for the support!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Electrocutions

**Author's Note : We pretty much have the list of characters set to go. Do note that flashbacks will be in italic. Also, this chapter became a bit more rushed out towards the end since it's like 1 in the morning and I have a math exam tomorrow. To revise for my physics paper, I also included quite a bit of my physics syllabus in the chapter, and I hope you don't mind the physics spam :D. Let's go!**

_"Good afternoon," He drew a breath and spat out his cigarette. "Are you the new fucker they sent me?"_

_I had stepped into a lab complex to meet an Academy City-certified ability development researcher who was apparently quite well-versed and experienced with Vector Change espers. Nothing could have prepared me for this strange person, though._

_Few researchers have the very dubious honor of being known as Academy City's top esper developers. Even fewer used such coarse language and had the appearance of a punk. Combine those two probabilities and you'd get a very small window of chance that there would be a person who fit into both categories. Yet, here he was, leaning against a laboratory wall having a smoke and swearing at his new student. He would probably have been given many warnings if not for his unknown research. His research was important enough that it was extremely secretive to the general populace, and as a general rule it seemed that the more promising students would pass through him for at least one development session, if not more. _

_"Kihara-sensei..." I couldn't quite respond to his words, since I still wanted to observe proper decorum. "I am Kousaka Kyousuke, if that's what you mean."_

_"Kousaka-kun, huh..." He stared into me with an eye that had tattoos around it. "So, you're the Level 3 Vector Change esper they wanted me to start off?"_

_"I do believe so."_

_"Fine, fine. Lemme go set up the testing chambers first..."_

_He disappeared through the door while beckoning for me to follow him. I followed into this strange District 17 research facility, and the door slammed shut behind me._

_"So," He asked while moving around the control room. "Which ability did you start off from? It'd be fucking helpful to know that."_

_"It was Equal Speed, Kihara-sensei."_

_"Stop being so fucking stiff, it makes me sick." A sigh. "Get your stupid ass into the testing chamber now."_

_The floor clattered and clanged beneath my feet as I entered the large room. It was built to support testing on many levels._

_"Heard of Newton's First Law of Motion?" His voice rang through the huge speaker on the ceiling. "Y'know, the one where an object in motion stays in motion and an object not moving won't move unless another asshole acts on it?" I was vaguely familiar with it, though his explanation would probably cement the whole thing in my memory. "Your Equal Speed dealt with taking the vector of resistive forces on an object and negating them by accordingly increasing the vector of the object and changing where it was going. So, I want you to do it the other way round this time." The central platform opened and a metal ball the size of my torso was raised. "This thing will be stationary, so go negate the forces I put on it." A holoboard popped out of the wall and displayed the relevant equations needed. _

_"3... 2... 1... Go."_

* * *

Ayase-san gave me a confused look.

"Fight... With you?"

"Yeah, I mean... You don't want Kirino to be played around with, right?"

"..."

"_Right?_"

"It's just that..."

She opened her mouth, then caught herself and closed it. Looking down, she muttered softly, "I'm not sure she'd want that..."

"Are you joking? Kirino's not really Kirino right now, isn't it? Why do you seem so hesitant?"

"I'm not hesitant, it's just that the Shokuhou faction includes more than 100 students, more than 80% of whom are high-level students from Tokiwadai..." Ayase looked at me doubtfully. "Are you sure you want to take them all on?"

"Well, you can shock them back into themselves, can't you?" Ayase still looked doubtful. "I mean, you just need to hit the right place, like just a while ago, don't you?"

She sat down cross-legged on the bed and considered. Come to think about it, that meant that sufficiently high-level Electromaster users would not fall under the control of Shokuhou Misaki. That was probably why Ayase was not part of the 'Shokuhou Faction' yet. It would also be rather useful, due to the complete negation of electromagnetic-type vectors being impossible beyond about 300V, which was the amount that even a Level 3 could channel. Deflection was possible but difficult to accomplish since the vectors of electrical charge are of a very high magnitude. It would take a lot of brain power to deflect electromagnetic vectors for an extended period of time. All things considered, it would be ultimately beneficial to have this pretty and cute young girl with me.

In fact, it would be amazing if that resulted in...

_Zap._

"Ow! Why'd you shoot that onto my hand?"

"Why were you staring at my chest while drooling?"

I looked down, and there indeed was a small puddle on my pants. I shook my head to clear my thoughts; I could do that later tonight. For now, I needed to focus.

"So?"

"... I'll fight with you..."

"Really?"

"I-It's not like I want to support you..." She blushed - my jaw dropped at how cute she looked while doing that - and turned away. "I'm doing this for Kirino's sake! For Kirino!"

"Whatever..." I was again entranced by her cuteness. This is bad, my hands were moving by themselves...

A large sound came from the wall behind Ayase, causing her to fall into my arms. There seemed to be people speaking from the room next door.

"DON'T TELEPORT IN WHEN I'M TAKING A SHOWER!"

"I only wanted to FEEL ONEE-SAMA!"

"DIE!"

The lights in the room flickered, and some of the metal objects in the room shifted about. I could feel an excessively large magnetic field being produced. I could also feel something somewhat convex-shaped in my hands.

"!"

Another magnetic field was being produced, right below me. I looked down, and found my hands cupping Ayase's small but not nonexistent breasts.

...

_Squeeze._

"!"

She didn't say anything, but gave me a full-body electrical shock that I couldn't for the life of me even detect quickly enough. She then dragged my limp body (_it_ wasn't limp) onto her table and unceremoniously chucked me out of the second-floor window of the Tokiwadai Middle School Dormitory. As I lay on the floor and let my senses return, I noticed that it was already night. I needed to go back quickly; I could explain myself again the next time I met her.

* * *

I woke up early in the morning and took a quick shower. Dressed in my school uniform, I dragged Akagi out of bed like I'd do when he was late. Eyes half-opened and lying on the ground with his hand in his boxers, he stared at me confusedly.

"Auh? Whuzzgoinon..."

"Akagi, get up, we'll be late."

"... A'yuu fahkin' returrd'd?" He pointed weakly at the calendar, which showed that it was a Saturday.

Whoops.

He climbed back up the bed and promptly began snoring again. I, who had already woken up fully by this point, was unable to do the same. With nothing to do and too lazy to change, I decided to go somewhere and eat breakfast. I opened the door.

A small fist smacked me in the face.

It didn't seem like an intended punch, seeing as the knuckles were swinging down on my nose, but it still hurt like hell. I fell flat on my back.

"A-Ah, K-K-Kyousuke-san, are you alright?"

Eyes tearing from pain, I began to slowly open my eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fi-" From where I was lying, the angle was perfect. It was visible, though not very; I could feel the flow of a warm red liquid down my face.

"Kyousuke-san! I'm so sorry, let me fix it for you!"

She moved over my face into the room, and I managed to see the whole thing. Black, with lace. Translucent, but too dark to properly see through. The blood flowed harder, from my nose and towards my lower body. It was absurd. If either Akagi or Manami found me here I would be a goner.

I had no choice but to sit myself up as soon as I thought she'd passed over me.

She suddenly stopped at that exact time, causing my face to get caught in her skirt. The fabric ripped, and we stayed in that position for a minute or so. I thought carefully about my escape routes. The time passed so slowly it felt like an eternity before the first spark flew. When the crackling sound began behind me, I ran over to the handrail along the corridor and balanced myself on it. Deflecting a lighting spear, I leapt off the bar and manipulated the vector to redirect it such that it negated the gravitational force pulling me down, letting me fall down at a constant velocity[1]. It distorted the handrail downwards into the concrete because for some strange reason, Newton's Third Law of Motion[2] applied even here. Then again, it applied to gravity[3], so I suppose that long-range forces were also affected by Newtonian mechanics[4].

I heard a scream and a funnily male yell of pain. Ayase had hit Akagi with her electrical outburst.

It was hard work, but I managed to concentrate barely enough to manipulate wind vectors to lift me up. This way, no matter how large the magnitude was it wouldn't affect the environment much since air would diffuse into the vacuum left by the pocket of wind that I used the vectors of. I sped upwards and slapped my hand over Ayase's mouth. With her so distraught that she was unable to use her ability, I looped the other hand around her waist and rose into the air. At least she couldn't electrocute me in the state of distress that she was in.

I set her down on a building that I could see my door from. Akagi seemed to have been shocked awake. His hair was stuck out all over the place and he was desperately trying to turn on the lights. The electronic locks on doors nearby had also broken. It seemed that Ayase had unintentionally created an extremely large EMP strike[5].

"Goddammit, you just fried every electrical system in the area."

"I-I'm sorry..." She mumbled.

"Tch. How am I going to explain it to the Dorm Masters now?"

There was silence, and a tapping foot.

"C-C-Can I..." A small voice came from behind me. Ayase was shifting about uncomfortably, with a tissue box that she'd nicked from my dining table in her hand.

"Can I call you Onii-san, like Kirino probably does?" She gripped the rip in her skirt tightly and swayed back and forth, revealing her red face every now and then.

The next thing I knew, I'd fainted, either from forgetting to breathe or blood loss. However, it did not take long for me to get back up since Ayase was like a portable defibrillator. It really didn't help that her hands were on my chest and she was sitting on my somewhat open abdomen, looking desperate and cute. The introduction of the electricity made my calculation go a bit haywire though, and I redirected a random vector somewhere. Ayase gasped slightly for an unknown reason. Her eyes went wide, and she immediately clamped her knees together while cowering slightly. Then she shifted.

There was bare skin where she sat.

I finally realised the situation just as her eyes darkened and she slid off my body.

"Onii-san... The concrete is reinforced by soft iron, right...?"

"Uh... Ahahahah..."

"Then... DIE!"

* * *

After the multiple near-death experiences I had on the roof, somebody came up to break up the fight and she revealed her real purpose for looking for me. What she didn't explain, however, was how she knew my address.

She wanted to make use of the weekend to go check out the Shokuhou Faction. It was in a separate dormitory that also belonged to Tokiwadai. She had half the dormitory in her control, according to Ayase. I was supposed to get up near the windows and redirect the light vectors to Ayase so she would be able to see through the window while standing a distance away. I was to redirect light to 'pass through' my body except my eyes at the same time, so I could only do either of those tasks at a time. It was amazing how she'd managed to understand my ability well enough and quickly enough to develop new tricks using it. It was a bit hard since it was my first time controlling photon streams, and I had to control such a large number of them. Couple that with the speed of light, and that made it a very tough challenge.

I snuck from window to window and let Ayase 'see into' the windows. She constantly shook her head, indicating that Shokuhou was nowhere to be found. Eventually, we'd searched the whole compound and Shokuhou was not there. I leapt down.

"So, what now?"

"I... Don't know. I really don't know of any other place that the Queen would go to..."

The door into the dormitory opened.

"Queen-sama wants us to meet at a private salon in District 6..."

"Hah? A dingy place like that? Are you sure?"

"She said it's the most expensive one there is..."

"Really? If Queen-sama says it, it must be true, then..."

That luck was unprecedented, and Ayase seemed somewhat surprised as well. Without a word, we began tailing the two Tokiwadai minions. We didn't know where exactly where they would lead us, but there was some unspoken consent of our sureness that Kirino would be there, close to Shokuhou Misaki. With that belief in mind, we followed the pair.

* * *

[1] : Newton's Second Law of Motion states that the net force (the sum of all forces acting on an object) F on an object is defined by the product its mass m and its acceleration a in the direction of the net force. Essentially, F = ma. This means that if F is 0, like Kyousuke has made it, it is either at rest or moving at a constant velocity. In this case, he is moving at a constant velocity that is slow enough to allow him to 'float' down safely.

[2] : Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every force F on object B exerted by object A, a force F' of equal magnitude and opposite direction will be exerted on A by B. Essentially, if you push something, it pushes you back with the same amount of force.

[3] : Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation states that the gravitational force between two objects the product of their masses multiplied by the gravitational constant 6.674 x 10^(-11). So, both objects exert the same amount of attractive force on one another. Follows Newton's Third Law of Motion.

[4] : Note that this only applies to long-range mechanical forces.

[5] : By Faraday's Law of Electromagnetic Induction, when a magnetic field B is applied to a conductor with current I running through it, a magnetic force F is produced. To find the directions of the three vectors, you use Fleming's Left Hand Rule. Then, when F is produced, Lenz's Law dictates that a current will be induced in the conductor such that it produces a force F'. As such, when a sufficiently large magnetic field strength is produced, wires and electrical conductors get fried. They induce so much current that the wires overheat and melt. Ayase had passed a current straight from her brain into the floor, which caused a huge magnetic field by the Right Hand Corkscrew Rule.

**Author's Note : If it's too much physics, let me know; I'm trying to maintain the reality of this world through the introduction of real-world physics in artificial science. There might be some purposeful holes in the scientific laws for plot purposes, but as far as possible I will try to maintain the laws of this universe to the best of my ability. Esper battles begin soon! Thanks for following/favouriting/reviewing my work!**


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